ANC Women’s League holds prayer session for LGE in KuGompo

Members of the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) and clergy from various religious denominations have held a prayer session in KuGompo City in the Eastern Cape. The League says the national prayer service at the Orient Theatre also seeks to promote peace ahead of next week’s elections. The League’s acting president and secretary general, Nokuthula Nqaba has called on political parties and their supporters to remain calm during the upcoming local government elections, to prevent conflict. “We are here also to pray that there shall be peace, justice, there shall be free and fair local government election in our country. There shall be tolerance amongst ourselves as the members of the movement and its alliance partners. There shall be peace and stability amongst the political parties themselves that are contesting each other. That contestation shall not be reduced to fighting amongst us.” Nqaba says the League remains firmly behind the party but is still waiting for an unconditional apology from ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe over his remarks during an interview about the sex-for-jobs issue. “We also expect the first thing, respect, that is all we are asking for. Don’t take them lightly. Don’t be casual. Don’t joke about our pain. Don’t joke about something that is equal to a violation of a human being. A violation of a woman. A violation of a girl child. It is wrong. Maybe someone else would have given a credit, but not those that we regard as the leader of the society, and they don’t understand the sensitivity of the matter.”